BS-Free Witchcraft

I’m getting a bit contemplative at the end of the year, and this month we’re talking about the importance of the mystery of the night. Everything feels just a little more magical in the dark, and why that just feels right as a witch. That’s right, we’re talking about an aesthetic this time around. Who would have guessed? Read Trae’s new Novel Buried Memories! ISBN: 9798349560958 eBook: Kindle / Kobo / ePub Paperback: Amazon / Bookshop / Direct Order Also check out the rest of Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website. (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “So I Said It, “Putz and Pulse,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

One of the biggest things I think a lot of older witches take for granted is that people understand what makes Wicca, well, Wicca. While we’ve discussed the history before, and last month talked about the weird anti-Wicca backlash, I think there are a lot of misconceptions about how this incredibly diverse religion is practiced. Frankly, just the fact that it is largely an orthopraxic religion and not an orthodoxic one is a concept a lot of folks raised in predominantly Christian frameworks struggle with. So let’s talk about it. (I know this is two months in a row talking about Wicca, but I think this is important) Pre-order Trae’s new Novel Buried Memories – out December 15th! ISBN: 9798349560958 eBook: Pre-order on Kindle / Pre-order on Kobo Paperback: Amazon Pre-order / B&N Pre-order Also check out the rest of Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website. (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “So I Said It, “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

If you spend any amount of time on social media these days, especially TikTok, you’ll find a surprising amount of anti-Wiccan sentiment… and a lot of it’s pretty weird. Thumper Forge, Gardnerian Wiccan and author of the forthcoming The Chaos Apple, joins me as we, frankly, debunk some of the worst of it and talk about why we think this has happened. Also we end up on about twenty million tangents, but I think you probably could have guessed that would happen anyway. Find Thumper Forge: Pre-Order The Chaos Apple on Amazon Pre-Order The Chaos Apple on Bookshop.org Fivefold Law on Patheos Fivefold Law on TikTok ThumperForge.com Pre-order Trae’s new Novel Buried Memories – out December 15th! ISBN: 9798349560958 eBook: Pre-order on Kindle / Pre-order on Kobo Paperback: Amazon Pre-order / Bookshop.org Pre-order Also check out the rest of Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website. (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn)

This episode marks seven years of this podcast, and as we start the eighth, I decided that it was time we looked back on how much things have changed in the modern witchcraft space since then, along with how different things are since I first became a witch over twenty-five years ago. Because what is witchcraft if it’s not change? Also, I’m standing in a park most of the episode, which is why it sounds like that. Pre-order Trae’s new Novel Buried Memories – out December 15th! ISBN: 9798349560958 eBook: Pre-order on Kindle / Pre-order on Kobo Paperback: Amazon Pre-order / B&N Pre-order Also check out the rest of Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website. (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “So I Said It,” “Putz and Pulse,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / “Havana,” Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

If you’re in witchcraft spaces, over the last six years or so, you’ve likely heard someone talking about “shadow work” (or more obnoxiously telling someone “they need to do some shadow work”). And while some folks seem to consider it an essential element of witchcraft, for those of us who have been in the community a long time it’s just a little bit puzzling. Likewise, a lot of the people pushing shadow work don’t seem to know where it comes from to begin with. With that in mind, this month I’m going into the origins of shadow work, what it is, and maybe why some folks need to stop pushing it so hard. Quicklink: Critical Thinking Witches Collective Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website. (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “So I Said It,” “Putz and Pulse,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / “Jaracanda,” Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

It’s July which means it’s time for the annual feedback/Q&A episode of the show! In this episode I sit down and answer questions that you, the audience, has been sending me over the last few months. It’s the same dance we do every summer, and this year you guys sent me some great questions. It’s a fun one. Conventions: Aug 2-3 Big Minneapolis Anime – Minneapolis, MN Aug 9-10 Anime 414 – Milwaukee, WI Sep 13 Eau Claire Comic Con – Eau Claire, WI Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website. Apple Podcast Users – please switch to the white logo feed to find the missing episodes in the archive. (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

Last month we talked about a good source new witches might want to add to their libraries, because I know how hard it is to separate the signal from the noise. But this month I thought we’d go look at some of the noise instead! I clicked on every terrible ad for witchcraft stuff I could find on Facebook for a week, and decided to inflict what I found on Hex Positive‘s Bree NicGarran. It’s so, so bad y’all. Important Links: The Medicinal Garden Kit Will Probably Not Save You (McGill.ca) Bree’s Willow Wings Witch Shop Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website. The annual Q&A/Feedback episode is coming up! I need your questions — send them via my contact form by July 11th 2025 if you want me to read your question on the show! (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / “Curtain Call,” Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

One year ago I put out this podcast’s first book review. It was for Annwyn Avalon’s Celtic Goddess Grimoire, and I absolutely hated it. It was everything I despise in modern witchcraft publishing, and it just left a bad taste in my mouth. I felt like I needed to fix that. So I decided to make it my mission to find a new witchcraft book I might actually like — to find something I could actually talk positively about to this show’s audience. And that’s when I found Thorn Mooney’s Witches Among Us: Understanding Contemporary Witchcraft and Wicca (ISBN: ‎ 978-0738777375) last fall. And it turns out I really like it. Important Links: Buy “Witches Among Us” on Amazon Buy “Witches Among Us” via Llewllyn Thorn Mooney’s Website Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website. The annual Q&A/Feedback episode is coming up! I need your questions — send them via my contact form by July 11th 2025 if you want me to read your question on the show! (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Pulse,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

The 1991 Christian propaganda series the Pagan Invasion by Jeremiah Films was oddly formative for me. It’s a masterclass in propaganda, and a perfect example of the kind of misinformation that was spreading during the heights of the Satanic Panic. So in this episode we’re going to break down how “documentaries” like these work to push an agenda, and how to recognize these patterns in other places. Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website. The annual Q&A/Feedback episode is coming up! I need your questions — send them via my contact form by July 11th 2025 if you want me to read your question on the show! (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / “Island,” “Peach Cobbler,” Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

This month on the show we’re talking about the importance of taking stock and realizing that the person you used to be isn’t the person that you are — and how important it is to document who you are now so that you might know yourself better later. Or something. It makes sense if you listen, I swear. Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website. (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

This month I wanted to talk about a couple of things that wouldn’t necessarily fill out a whole episode on their own. First off, after last month’s episode I wanted to clarify some of my thoughts on psychics. Secondly, I wanted to talk about bias and what we do with evidence that runs contrary to our beliefs. It should be a fun one though. Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books, and find me at Evercon Feb 28th-March 2nd, 2025. (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

One of the biggest podcasts out there right now is The Telepathy Tapes. It’s topping the podcast charts on both Apple and Spotify’s American listings, but it perpetrates an incredibly dangerous idea about people with autism. But none of this is new, and we’ve seen this kind of trend before. So it’s about time we talked about it. Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books Important Links: The Telepathy Tapes Official Website “The Telepathy Tapes” is Taking America by Storm. But it Has its Roots in Old Autism Controversies. by Zail Jilani The American Saga (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / “Jaracanda,” “Buddy,” Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

This month we’re going to do something a little different — I’m going to just talk to you about how I’m doing right now. Stuff’s not necessarily the best, so I kind of had a few things I needed to get out of my system. But I’m still here, still fighting, and still sticking by you. Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “The Man With One Eye” (Trae Dorn)

It’s been about a year since Hex Positive‘s Bree NicGarran showed up to review a piece of witchcraft media with Trae, and with how terrible the world is, why not take a break and listen to two witches reviewing the latest piece of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — Agatha All Along! Because we all need a distraction… and it’s an amazing show. Read Trae’s Books: The Witch and the Rose ISBN: 9798869132666 Available Via: Amazon / Kindle / ePub / Direct Order Bloody Damn Rite ISBN: 9798330220373 Available Via: Amazon / Kindle / ePub / Direct Order Shadowcasting (Available 12/15/2024) ISBN: 9781088207031 Available Via: Pre-Order on Kindle / Pre-Order Paperback (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

It’s October, so even though we took the year off last year, we’re going back to the show’s roots with yet another spooky episode! This time around, Lozzie Stardust takes the guest spot and we talk about ghosts, cryptids, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Look, we got really off track on this one. But I think you’ll like it. Read Trae’s Books: The Witch and the Rose ISBN: 9798869132666 Available Via: Amazon / Kindle / ePub / Direct Order Bloody Damn Rite ISBN: 9798330220373 Available Via: Amazon / Kindle / ePub / Direct Order Shadowcasting (Available 12/15/2024) ISBN: 9781088207031 Available Via: Pre-Order on Kindle / Pre-Order Paperback (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

You do your best in this life to try and figure out what you’re doing. You write everything down, you make a schedule, and you plan. And sometimes those plans work out and sometimes they don’t. That’s what this episode is about. Sort of. Kind of. In a way. I think. Read Trae’s Books: The Witch and the Rose ISBN: 9798869132666 Available Via: Amazon / Kindle / ePub / Direct Order Bloody Damn Rite ISBN: 9798330220373 Available Via: Amazon / Kindle / ePub / Direct Order Shadowcasting (Available 12/15/2024) ISBN: 9781088207031 Available Via: Pre-Order on Kindle / Pre-Order Paperback (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

Homeopathy is harmful and complete and total bull. I can’t emphasize that enough. In this episode we’re diving into the history of Homeopathy, what it is, and why it’s bad. And I think, by the end of it, you’ll agree with me. Further Reading: What is the lawsuit against CVS and Walmart? Chains targeted over homeopathic product sales (USA Today) ‘Homeopathic’ treatment contains as much alcohol as whiskey (News4SA) Read Trae’s Books: The Witch and the Rose ISBN: 9798869132666 Available Via: Amazon / Kindle / Direct Order Bloody Damn Rite ISBN: 9798330220373 Available Via: Amazon / Kindle / Direct Order (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Podcast Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

It’s July, so that means we’re doing the annual feedback and Q&A special! You guys spent the last few months sending in witchcraft questions, and they got shuffled around, picked at random, and now you’re getting some answers! We’ve played this dance before, you know what’s up. Read Trae’s Books: The Witch and the Rose ISBN: 9798869132666 Available Via: Amazon / Kindle / Direct Order Bloody Damn Rite ISBN: 9798330220373 Available Via: Amazon / Kindle / Direct Order (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Podcast Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

The entire #ReturnTheStone debacle over the last couple of weeks on WitchTok is honestly just a symptom of a a larger problem. One of the core, underlying issues that is the cause of a lot of these issues in the Modern Witchcraft Movement is arrogance, and it’s about time we talk about it. Reminder! The annual Q&A episode is coming up soon, and I need your questions! Submit your questions by July 11th by going to the contact form! Read Trae’s Books: The Witch and the Rose ISBN: 9798869132666 Available Via: Amazon / Kindle / Direct Order Bloody Damn Rite ISBN: 9798330220373 Available Via: Amazon / Kindle / Direct Order (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Podcast Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) TikTok videos from @brewitched, @zaphaa_, @cheapeofficial, @josephine_witch, @the_planning_hincher, and @scottish.bookworm were featured in this episode. Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / “Jaracanda,” “Havana,” “Fifth Avenue Stroll,” “Campfire,” Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

When the publicist for Weiser Books reached out to the show asking if I wanted a review copy of Annwyn Avalon’s new book “Celtic Goddess Grimoire,” I don’t really think they knew what they were getting into. Because I said yes. And this is my review. And this is not a good book. Reminder! The annual Q&A episode is coming up soon, and I need your questions! Submit your questions by July 11th by going to the contact form! Check out my Novels: Purchase ‘The Witch and the Rose’ in eBook or Paperback (Amazon) Pre-Order ‘Bloody Damn Rite’ in eBook (Amazon) (And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Podcast Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!) Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)